Tale of an Insignificant Section 1 Operative
by asiacheetah
Summary: A  sometimes  humorous look at the people of LFN we love and love to hate from the perspective of an outsider. Pairing: Michael/Nikita, Operations/Madeline  supposed , Michael/Madeline  supposed , Operations/random female operatives
1. Chapter 1 An Ordinary Man

**Tale of an insignificant Level 1 Operative**

Synopsis: A (sometimes) humorous look at the people of LFN we love and love to hate from the perspective of an outsider.

Warning: spoilers for several LFN episodes throughout the story

Pairing: Michael/Nikita, Operations/Madeline (supposed), Michael/Madeline (supposed), Operations/random female operatives

**Chapter One: An Ordinary Man **

A special thanks to RoseML for being my awesome Beta.

[Author's note: Part of this might look familiar since it's the prologue for The Recruit. Once I get around to it, I plan to rewrite the prologue for that story and what's there will be completely gone. Rather than trash it altogether, I decided to turn it into a side story. LFN is told almost completely in the perspective of Nikita who, for a lowly street rat Level 1 operative, had extraordinary access to everyone in charge. She had the attention of Operations and Madeline, and the protection of Michael, Walter, and Birkoff. I figured that was the abnormality rather than the norm. This story is from the perspective of a lowly grunt that dot the landscape of LFN. He's not in the know, he doesn't have any insider information. Everything he knows is purely speculative. I thought it might be fun to see what the other operatives really think about the people up top including Nikita.]

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><p>Someone told me once that the average life expectancy of a Section operative is 6 years. If you are a field operative, that life expectancy drops down to 3. Most don't even make it out of basic training. If you are one of the lucky few, the best thing for you to do is to keep your head down, avoid the people in charge, and just try to get out of the crosshair, whether from a terrorist's weapon or from the power that be.<p>

I'm one of the lucky few that beat the odds and are still around. My name is David. I've been in Section One for 8 years. There's nothing extraordinary about me, nothing that stands out, no superior quality that makes me ideally suited for this life. I'm just the guy who's in the background, usually in the second or third team, or backup. There in case the REAL operatives need my help, which is rare.

About the only thing I can say that I've done well is that I've avoided the attention of everyone in charge. Operations doesn't know I even exist. Madeline probably took one look at my file and deemed me to be cannon fodder, completely disposable. Michael at least knows my name, but then he's the super agent who seems to know who everyone is and what they could be used for. He must have determined that I'm useful to be around, only as a 2nd, 3rd, or backup team of course.

My ability to disappear into the background wasn't always the case. I could have REALLY shot myself in the foot had I not had some friendly advice from that old guy in Munitions who's been in Section longer than the concrete that surrounds us, which in these days really isn't that old since this is the third operational center we've moved into. The first one was incinerated by the old Operations, the second one we moved out of when our current Operations decided a change in scenery is needed.

Speaking of the current Operations, I remember when she was called Nikita. The first time I saw her was a few days after I saw Michael. That would be when that old guy from Munitions, Walter was his name, gave me some friendly advice, advice that I took to heart and was probably the reason why I'm still around.

Flashback time…

"_Who's that?"_

Walter looked up at the new operative's question to find him looking across the room. Striding confidently through Section in his customary black attire was Michael, on his way up to the perch to meet with Operations. He turned back to the inquisitive field ops and replied: _"That's Michael."_

He laid down the gear he had been gathering and leaned in fixing a stern look of warning at the new guy: _"You do not want to get in his way."_

"_Why's that?"_

"_He's someone you don't want to mess with."_

The guy looked up at the perch where Operations and Michael were facing down to the Comm area, calmly discussing something. He turned back to Walter and responded: _"So he's the top dog around here huh?"_

"_There are 3 general rules in Section: failure is not an option, you do your job, and you don't get on Michael's bad side. You follow those rules; you just might survive your first year out of training."_

At the questioning look on the guy's face, Walter took it easy on him and explained the lay of the land. _"If you complete your mission, you'll satisfy Operations. If you do your job, Madeline won't take a closer look at you. If you stay on Michael's good side, you might be able to survive your next mission."_

"_So Michael leads the missions?"_

"_He leads them, performs tactical oversights, creates profiles, assigns the teams, you name it, he does it."_

"_When does he sleep?"_

Walter was starting to like this new field op. He teased back: _"Who says he does?"_

The guy starts laughing in response, drawing several startled glances from fellow operatives. He chokes back his laughter when he notices Michael has left the perch and is walking across the room toward his office. The sound of laughter has drawn Michael's attention and he glances impassively across the room before turning his attention elsewhere.

"_Is he always this emotionless?"_

"_Pretty much."_

"_There had to have been a time he let his guard down."_

"_None that I've ever seen."_

"_Not even when he was a recruit himself?"_

"_I wouldn't know. Michael came to us already a full-fledged operative."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_He came to us from another Section, Section 8 I think."_

"_There are other sections?"_

"_Of course there are. Terrorism is a global threat; we need sections to cover the world."_

"_When did he come over?"_

"_I don't remember, ages ago. Operations and Madeline had to wrestle him away from 8. They weren't too thrilled since he's the most gifted recruit that ever came through Section. From the sound of it they were grooming him for higher level positions, same as here. But what Section One wants Section One gets."_

"_Does he have any weaknesses?"_

"_Not many. You'll meet one of them; she's tall and blonde, a true beauty."_

"_She's an operative?"_

"_Yup. He trained her and they've been under each other's skin ever since."_

"_I'd like to meet her."_

"_Haven't you been listening to a word I'm saying? I warned you not to get on Michael's bad side. Well cozying up to Nikita will definitely lands you smack dab on his radar and quicker than you can say suicide mission, you'll be dead."_

The field op held his hand up in surrender: _"Okay, okay, I get it. Don't need to keep harping on it."_

Walter fixed a stern glare at him: _"Good, now get out of here."_

"_I'm going, there I'm gone."_

"_Smart as*s."_

End of flashback…

I finally got to meet this mysterious Nikita. It's a good thing Walter warned me ahead of time since I'd go after that leggy blonde in a heartbeat. I steered clear of her and stayed off her radar as well, a good thing too once it came out that she was a mole for Center. I remember when that revelation sent a shockwave through Section. We all thought she was this sweet and innocent girl when all along she was playing with the big boys and fooling them all. She even managed to fool Madeline and Michael, two of the most perceptive people around.

That was a scary time for us operatives. People were dying right and left on poorly planned missions, Operations stayed up in his perch most of his time scowling down on us all. Madeline decided to die rather than having to take order from 'an ad hoc internal affairs bimbo', her words according to the interview tape that made its way around Section.

Most shocking of all was when Michael died. If anyone was indestructible, it was Michael. If Section One blows up, that man would still be standing. Of course Michael couldn't be taken out if he didn't want to be taken out. His interrogation tape made its way around Section as well and we all watched with awe as he effectively signed his own death warrant by admitting that he put the well being of Nikita ahead of Section. The ever polite Frenchman even THANKED Nikita when she handed out the death sentence.

Of course like Lazarus, he rose from the dead, took charge, got what he came back for and left just as quickly. He's now the only operative I know who managed to walk cleanly away from Section One to live his own life in god knows where. Maybe Operations knows where he is, but she isn't telling. Maybe one day he'll come back, or Operations might disappear to be with him. The betting pool amongst the operatives is 6 to 1 that Operations would take off to join Michael.

Until that day arrives, I'll do what I do best, keep my head down and stay out of the crosshair whether it be terrorists or the power that be.


	2. Chapter 2 Protection details

**Chapter 2 – Protection details for the Michael Sammuelle a.k.a An exercise in futility**

[AUTHOR'S NOTE: IF THIS LOOKS FAMILIAR IT'S BECAUSE I CANNIBALIZED IT FROM TRUST IS NEVER EASY CHAPTER 3 PART 1. I NEVER THOUGHT IT REALLY FIT IN THAT STORY SINCE IT WAS WRITTEN COMPLETELY IN (Michael's) FIRST PERSON PERSPECTIVE. NOW IT HAS A NEW AND MUCH MORE FITTING HOME.]

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><p><em>"Shit! We lost him again! Madeline is going to kill us. She probably won't even wait for Housekeeping to get to us. She'll do it herself. Why the hell did we volunteer for this duty?"<em>

_"You opened your big mouth and wanted to shadow the great Michael on his downtime."_

_"I don't see you objecting? You probably wanted to follow him to his offsite living quarters so you can paw through his underwear drawer."_

_"You're an ass hole, Percy!"_

_"And you're a lust crazed nymphomaniac, Sherry!"_

_"Shit! Shit! Shit! What do we do?"_

_"Lie and deny everything. We'll say we followed him around and he did absolutely nothing suspicious."_

_"How are we supposed to know when he gets back?"_

_"We park ourselves near Section's entrance and wait until he returns."_

_"Think she'll believe us?"_

_"If she doesn't, she'll cancel us. If we tell her we lost him, she'll cancel us. We do it my way; we just might avoid getting killed."_

_"Alright."_

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><p><em>"Fuck! We lost him again. That's it! We're going to be cancelled for sure. Madeline told us she would personally cancel us herself."<em>

_"What do we do, Percy?"_

_"Let's go back to his quarters and see if he's just out running errands and will return."_

_"She's going to know we lied."_

_"Maybe he'll be back within a few hours."_

_"You're in serious denial, Percy."_

_"Well what's your brilliant plan?"_

Sherry just dejectedly shook her head. Either way, this might very well BE the last few days she had left on earth.

_"Shit! Why the hell did he choose to lose us again? He was doing so good the last few times he went out."_

She thought back to the previous times they had to track him. Madeline had caught them in their lies when they were being debriefed with the simple fact that they had no idea where Michael lived. Just thinking about that encountered sent chills down her spine. They had stood in front of Madeline in her office reporting Michael's activities for the last two days.

[flashback]

Percy had taken the lead. _"Nothing much happened. He ran some errands, went home, and just sort of stayed in for a few days."_

Madeline had been silent for a few moments before asking point blank: _"Where does Michael live?"_

That's when both Percy and she started sweating bullets.

_"Um…he lives close to Section."_ He shot a desperate look her way in panic.

_"He lives near the St. Cloud suburb."_ She took a blind stab by throwing out the nearest neighborhood to Section.

Madeline smiled at them and she immediately knew they were done for.

_"No, he does not. Why don't you tell me what really happened the last few times you trailed him."_

Knowing continuing lying would only make it worse for them, Sherry admitted: _"We haven't been able to track him. He loses us within minutes each time he leaves."_

_"And you're only telling me now?"_

They both nodded grimly.

_"I will have a talk with Michael to make sure this behavior doesn't continue. In the mean time you both need to be retrained since he obviously got the best of you. If you ever lose him again or lie about it, you both will be cancelled immediately. You're dismissed."_

Madeline gave them Michael address before his next downtime to make it easier for them to trail him. Not that they needed it since Michael was obviously not trying to lose them this time. He had led them directly to his address and went in. A few minutes later he re-emerged wearing a leather jacket and pants while carrying a motorcycle helmet.

Sherry had nearly started hyperventilating at the sight of Michael wearing anything other than his black uniform. She nearly melted into a puddle of goo when she saw him straddle a motorcycle. Any daydreams about Michael straddling something else fled as they tried to keep up with him. Even though Michael wasn't trying to lose them, he drove like a bat out of hell and handled that motorcycle like it was a part of him.

Strangely, the story they made up for Madeline turned out to be pretty true. Michael ran a few errands and then returned home. He stayed in for the rest of the evening while they waited in the car across the street.

Sherry got bored watching Percy flipping a deck of cards into a hat. _"I'm going to go upstairs to get a better view of the perimeter."_

_"Just admit it, you want to spy on Michael and drool over him."_

She flipped him off: _"Suck it, Percy!"_

_"Go right ahead, I don't mind."_

She rolled her eyes and got out of the car. _"Contact me if anything changes."_

She walked up a few flights of stairs and broke into a vacant apartment. She looked through the binocular into Michael's loft. If she nearly hyperventilated at the sight of Michael in leather, she practically started panting when she saw him wearing jeans and a black form fitting t-shirt. _"Holy shit!"_

"What was that, Sherry?"

_"Um..nothing!"_ She watched as he moved around the kitchen, obviously preparing a meal. She thought to herself: A man after her own heart: dangerous, sexy, and he can cook! He put the vegetables he was cutting into a pot and put it in the oven. She nearly passed out at the view of that gorgeous butt as he bent down toward the oven.

He wiped down the counter and moved into the living room with a glass of wine. She watched as Michael reclined on the sofa reading a book while sipping the wine. It was so rare to see Michael so relaxed. He was always so reserved inside Section, like a coiled spring ready to explode into action at any moment. It was why everyone gave him a wide berth and left him alone because they know how dangerous he was.

It was always surprising whenever she see someone who didn't seem to be scared of him. It made sense that Operations and Madeline wasn't, since they have control over his life. It made less sense when she sees Walter, Birkoff, and especially Nikita behaving friendly toward him. She actually had seen those three physically touch him on occasion. Michael practically has a sign warning people to stay at least 10 feet away from him, outside of striking distance. That he allowed them within his personal space, and in the case of Nikita practically crowd him, was the reason why everyone assumed they were having an affair.

[end flashback]

Sherry's attention jerked back to the present fucked up situation by Perry's voice.

_"Shit! Shit! Shit! What do we do?"_

_"Guess we go back to his place and hope that he returns soon."_

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><p>And here ends the tale of one set of operatives sent to keep an eye on Michael. Needless to say, many more would be assigned this dreaded duty. A common nickname used for this assignment was 'Abeyance.'<p> 


End file.
